Famous Last Words by Katie Alender

        This book is about Willa and her new home in Hollywood. They move into a mansion where Dona Del Mar used to live. Her new step dad Johnathan is a famous producer. Johnathan has a man Reed that is always doing things for Johnathan. When Willa goes to her new high school "Longhorn High school" she meets her new friend Marnie. After lunch, oh ya there is a new Killer in Hollywood. Anyway, Willa goes to Chemistry class she has to sit by Wyatt that Marnie said to stay away from. When Willa goes home to work on her Chemistry she finds out that she took Wyatt's notebook! She goes through it she finds names and dates she wants to know what they mean. During that night she goes to take a night swim. The pool is quite long.  A little bit later there is tugging on her feet. Then it goes away and comes back she almost drowned then it all stops.She wanted to know what is was. So she looks back and when she looks there is a dead body laying in the pool. Johnathan and her mom come fast into the yard. She doesn't tell them about the body. A few days later Wyatt comes over to see if Willa has his notebook. Well first she said "How do know where I live". Well my mom loved Dona Del Mar. She said she does not have the notebook. Then next day she gives Wyatt the notebook saying that she didn't even know she had it. But then she asked why do you have those names and dates in there. Are you the killer?! Wyatt says "NO" now let's go talk about this in the library. So they go in the library and talk. He says those are name and dates that were last killed. The last name was Paige. When she goes home that night she sits down and there is this on the wall "this is the dream you do not wake up from" the number "818". Then it starts coming up everywhere! Her and Reed go on a walk to talk about things that are way off topic. I am not going to give you all details but I will give you a little more.  A few days later they both go to Wyatt's house to go though a few more things about the killer and the names.

                                          Well that is all I am going to give you! This book is really awesome! The best one I have read! If you love scary books, you would love this book. If you don't like scary books then you just might get nightmares ! Well anyway please read this book and enjoy it!  

By Amelie, 5th grader

The Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett J Har

Cecily, 12, and  her 14-year-old brother Jeremy  board a train in London, heading north, along with other evacuees during World War II. But they are not like the other children being sent out of harm's way. Cecily and Jeremy's mother is accompanying them, and they will be staying with their father's brother in the old family mansion, Heron Hall.
Cecily, always one to feel inferior around Jeremy (he's older, smarter, more passionate) feels sorry for the children leaving the train at the village and being shepherded into the town hall to await selection by a local family. She thinks it would be a noble thing to take in one of the evacuees -- and get a playmate for herself. To her surprise, Jeremy agrees, and their mother is happy to let Cecily make the choice. That's how May Bright ends up at Heron Hall.
May is adventurous where Cecily is not, but Cecily is determined that they be friends, so she traipses after May across the lawn, through the woods and over a stream, where they discover the remains of an old castle, tucked away where no one has seen it for years. And much to their surprise, they discover two boys who are living there. But the boys aren't there every time the girls come visiting.
Cecily asks her uncle about the castle, named Snow Castle. He begins telling the story of the castle, a little bit every night before bedtime. But first, his audience must understand a little bit of England's history from centuries past, including an evil duke who kidnapped the rightful heir to the throne, and made himself king instead.
This was an enjoyable book to read. It wasn't fast-paced or one that made me want to turn page after page. It was just a nice story that unfolded slowly but kept my interest. If you like books set in another time, or enjoy stories about royal families, give this one a try. You might get a surprise at the end.

Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein

This book is about Kyle Keeley and how he and his friends escape from Mr. Lemoncello's library. One day on the bus Akimi (Kyle's best friend) tells him about how the new library is having a lock-in. She also tells him you have to write an essay to get in. So Kyle writes a single sentence and hands it in at school. The next day they find out who the winners are and one of them is Kyle. To the kids it's just a normal lock-in thinking they are going there to spend the night and go home the next day.  But Mr. Lemoncello (one of the most famous toy designers ever and the one who owns the library) had a trick up his sleeve, he was going to have all of the kids stay overnight and try and solve the mystery of how to escape the library. Kyle teams up with his friends to escape the mysteries of the library.

          I'd suggest this book to kids who have a huge imagination, complex mind, and love to tinker and invent things.  Chris Grabenstien did a wonderful job in creating this book and many others. It was really fun to read this book because he used so many descriptive words, it felt like I was there. 

By Laurel, 4th grade reader

The Dark Lady J Adl

It seems that we just can’t get enough of Sherlock Holmes.  

His adventures fascinate us and yet we know very little about his early years.  What was Sherlock like as a boy?

A new series entitled “Sherlock, Lupin and Me” sets out to answer that question by imagining Sherlock’s childhood.  Narrated by his friend Irene Adler, the first book “The Dark Lady” follows Sherlock, Irene, and loyal friend Arsene Lupin as they investigate the mysterious death of a man who washes ashore on the beach.  

The three friends slyly move through the French seaside town of Saint-Malo, picking up clues from unsuspecting adults and sneaking into forbidden places.  It’s all great fun, although the story moves a little too slowly in places.

What is more interesting, however, is the idea behind the series – each of the friends is a famous character in an adult book.

Arsene, known later in life as “the Gentleman Thief” was the star of a series of detective stories published around the same time as the Sherlock Holmes tales.  Arsene’s path did not cross with Sherlock’s in the original stories, but Irene’s certainly did.  Although she only appears in one Sherlock story, Irene is “the woman”, the great intrique of his life.  Clever and resourceful, Irene is the only person to ever outwit Sherlock.  

In this first book, she doesn’t outwit Sherlock, but who knows what will happen in the next book …